Kohli fifty books No 2 spot for RCB

RAIPUR: Virat Kohli hit another IPL fifty, a fourth in a row, as Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Delhi Daredevils by six wickets to qualify for the play-offs and knock out their opponents here on Sunday night.

It seemed a little like grandstanding when Virat Kohli said he “loved” that Royal Challengers Bangalore had to win four out of four matches to quality for the playoffs. That was two weeks ago, when his team was placed sixth and he had recorded his first single-digit score of the season. Since then the lowest Kohli has been dismissed for is 109 and Royal Challengers have racked up the back-to-back wins they needed.

Raipur provided the toughest batting conditions yet for Royal Challengers this season. The pitch had extra bounce, and the boundaries were long enough that top edges and mis-hits didn’t simply skip away. Their bowlers made use of both and strangled Daredevils to 138 for 8. That Quinton de Kock contributed 60 of those runs exemplifies the lack of application from the rest of the Daredevils batsmen.

Kohli understood hitting through the line wasn’t prudent. When he had tried to do so in the sixth over, a good length ball from Chris Morris had straightened, kissed the edge and fell short of Karun Nair at first slip. Royal Challengers had already lost Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers. Losing the man who has averaged nearly 100 in T20 cricket in 2016 too could have been catastrophic.

Kohli, though, refused to give his wicket away. He concentrated on the singles and twos and barring a pristine on-drive that totally disrespected a good length ball on middle stump and an inside edge to fine leg, the rest of his six fours came off deliveries that were short, down leg or overpitched. He struck the winning runs with 11 balls to spare and his unbeaten 45-ball 54 propelled his average above 100 in 2016.

The most pleasing aspect of the Royal Challengers’ victory, however, lay in the efficiency of their bowlers. Left-arm seamer S Aravind made the first blow immediately after de Kock catch was dropped off his bowling. Yuzvendra Chahal did not spin the ball much, but he was able to make it kick up off the pitch. That aspect accounted for two of his three wickets — Sanju Samson was caught behind attempting a late cut and de Kock holed out to long-off.

On both occasions the batsman had seemed rather unhappy. Samson felt he did not nick it, but replays suggested the ball had run off the face and into wicketkeeper KL Rahul’s gloves. De Kock was stopped before he left the ground so the umpires could check the no-ball.

Replays in this case indicated Chahal had overstepped, but the third umpire Virender Sharma disagreed.

Bad luck, however, was a distant second in the list of reasons why Daredevils, having won five out of seven matches at the start of the season, crashed out.